‘Labyrinth’: The Sad Story Of Hoggle And What Happened When Sarah No Longer Needed Him

For fans of the iconic David Bowie movie, Labyrinth, the character of Hoggle is a definite favorite. The lovable character who was torn between his loyalty to the Goblin King and his new friend, Sarah, drew fans in as they watched his struggle.

But, what ever happened to Hoggle?

At the end of Labyrinth, he had certainly chosen Sarah’s side, and all looked well on the horizon. But, all these years later, how did that turn out for him?

Labyrinth was a movie that relied heavily on the cast and puppets involved in the story, but little on CGI to create the magic of the movie. This was due to the fact that the movie was created in the ’80s, when CGI was not as prevalent as it is today. As a result, the crew had to be creative.

Hoggle was, at the time, the most complicated puppet ever created by the group. The puppet included 18 motors and a team of five people to help create the life-like character we know and love.

Four of these people were actual puppeteers, who worked tirelessly from outside, controlling Hoggle’s facial movements. The final person on the team, however, was Shari Weiser, an actress whose job it was to control Hoggle’s head and body movements from inside the costume. The whole process was very in-depth and involved the crew learning how to interact with each other seamlessly so that Hoggle appeared to be one person. This took hours and hours of rigorous rehearsals.

However, a recent group of images shared on Facebook have horrified fans and ruined the memories of their favorite Labyrinth character. These images show grotesque pictures of Hoggle, whose face looks like it has dissolved away, revealing the metallic puppetry underneath, as if he is some sort of Terminator/Labyrinth fusion.

You can view the images of Hoggle here. But, be warned, they are horrifying.

According to the text with the images, Hoggle was lost during transit at an airport and was eventually found “rotting.”

A further investigation does reveal this was the actual fate of Hoggle. According to Smithsonian magazine, Hoggle turned up in the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama.

However, all was not lost. While he remained there for some time, according to Uproxx, a museum eventually bought Hoggle and restored him to his former Labyrinth glory.

Hoggle now spends his days behind glass in the museum in Scottsboro for all the world to see. He is, undoubtedly, still waiting for Sarah to believe in him again.

[Image by Tristar]

Was Hoggle your favorite character in Labyrinth? If not, who was? Let us know by commenting below.